Improvement in epergnes for fruits and flowers



Mmm AUG 151871 7J. A/ m. m@ M n ma@ .ma

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL S. BARRIE, OF GREEN POINT, NEW YORK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 117,965, dated August 15, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL S. BARRIE, of Green Point, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Epergne; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the construction of glass epergnes such as are used for holding fruit, Src., and bouquets; and it consists in a mode of connecting the stand and bowl, also, the bouquet-holder, which are made in separate pieces by molding or pressing, by means of thimbles, a screw-bolt, and elastic washer or cushion, in such mann er that the several parts are detachable from each other, thereby saving labor in the manufacture, and saving vastly in the labor and space occupied in packingfor transportation; also, in securing a degree of elasticity which lessens the risk of breaking, and if anypart should be broken it can be replaced by another, while in the ordinary way of making them a fracture of either the leg or the bowl destroys the whole. My invention is also applicable for connecting` the bowl and stan d together without the bouquetholder.

Figure l is a sectional elevation of my improved epergne, and Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation, showing the mode of connection when the bouquet-holder is not used.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Heretofore glass epergnes have invariably been blown or hand-made owing to the great difficulty, if not impossibility, of successfully making them by pressing, and attaching the bowl and leg together permanently with a hole down through the center for connection of the bouquet-holder, and if drilled after being attached in ordinary bowls the glass is liable to ily either during or subsequent to the process of drilling, while either the leg or bowl can be safely pressed separately with a hole in each, or the hole may be afterward drilled through each separately with safety, and the two attached.

They can be made very much cheaper by pressing separately and connecting afterward than by the hand process. I therefore make the stand A by pressing, and form a deep recess or socket, B, in the bottom, extending nearly to the top, with a small hole through the top for connecting bolt C, and I form the bowl l) in like manner, also with a hole and with a central boss, E, surrounding the hole in bottom; then I fit a ferrule of metal, F, snugly on the upper end of the stand, with a bell-mounted top or other equivalent form, receiving' the boss E of the bowl, and l clamp them securely together by the bolt O passing up through the top of the stand and the bowl and screwing into the base of the bouquet-holder G. I also place an India-rubber or other elastic washer, H, between the head of the bolt and the bottom of the socket B, to make an elastic joint, whereby 1t is much less liable to work loose, and the parts are less liable to break from jars or shocks.

In the case 0f these articles being made with two bowls, one above another, as they often are, the joint of the upper one with its stand, which rests on the lower bowl, will be made in like manner, one long bolt, answering for both, passing up entirely through the stand of the upper bowl.

When they are made without the bouquetholder the connection will be as shown in Fig. 2, the bolt, having a broad fiat head, being put down through from the top, and a nut, I, screwing onto it in the bottom of the socket B.

I may dispense with the washer, as the thimble or ferrule F will afford some elasticity necessary for causing the bolt to hold the parts properly, but I prefer to use it.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- As an article of manufacture, an epergne, consisting of hollow stand A B, the metal ferrule F, bowl D having boss E, bouquet-holder G, and screw-bolt C, all detachably applied together, as and for the purpose specified.

SAMUEL S. BARBIE.`

Witnesses:

GEO. W. MABEE, ALEX. F. ROBERTS. 

